Spindlers Trade & Birthday Buys

Okay, first I offered Yarns to Dye For & Dyers Companion on Spindlers and Melissa responded that she wanted both and would trade for fiber. Wow, did she send me a mix of great and unusal stuff. It was just wonderful. I am so pleased with this trade and I hope that Melissa was too.

I splurged and bought myself a lot of fiber, using my birthday as an excuse, and most of it came in the mail today. There are two batches of hand-dyed wool from Kae/FaeryLady, she said that the bright one was known as "Muppet Guts". Also a Kokovoko Farms spindle with a copy of Spinning from Novice to Expert & some roving. And the big splurge was two pounds of merino roving and some wool dye.

Of course, my credit card bill came today too, so that will be the end of my spending for a little while. LOL

Oh, and how could I forget, there was an extra box when I got home! My DH bought me TiVo for my birthday! :-)

It's yarn!

I made yarn again! Here is the end result of some Cheviot fleece I washed, dyed and spun (see previous post). If I had used my hand cards, this would have been one pretty much consistent color, but instead I used my flicker brush to fluff out the fleece and spin it without further processing. I love the way the yarn ended up! And I loved my Sleeping Beauty Spindle.

Here is the hand-dyed Merino top that I bought from Kae/FaerieLady on the spindle. I just got this started at lunch today. I am so impressed with the depth of color and the way this is spinning up. I am making it a little chunkier than the stuff above, because I want to try a bulky knit project!

Talking about anything but the funeral

There has been so much drama and trauma over my really nasty fleece, that I decided to take a break from it. Depending on my mood, I may post about it later, but if you read Spindlers then you already know about it.

That said, I did wash up some Icelandic fleece (see below) that was a freebie with my purchase of a Turkish spindle. It came out pretty nice. I was very pleased with how it washed up and I hope to find time to spin some up soon. I also washed the last of the black Shetland so I can store it, but it is still wet and looks a little like some poor person's fright wig. LOL

One pound of Icelandic, washed and dried.

This is some Cheviot I washed and dyed with Persian Gold, Lavender and Saffron OzeCraft Dyes last weekend. The colors were great. I loved the way the fleece looked. Today, after the funeral, I was sitting on the sofa and looking at this wool. I pulled out my flick carder and brushed it out, knowing that my spindles would be here any day.

Here it is brushed out and fluffed for spinning. Then the mailman came. He pushed some of the mail through the slot, but I opened the door to check for packages and there was a box with some spinning books *and* my Sleeping Beauty & Rapunzel spindles from Simple Market Farms. I started spinning this fiber up on the Sleeping Beauty right away. I spun the whole batch (see below), then I wound it into a ball and plied it on the same spindle. I also washed it to set the twist. It is upstairs on my umbrella swift drying. I'll take another photo when I have wound it into a ball.

Tomorrow I go back to work and try to act like a normal person. I am taking my new Sleeping Beauty spindle and my hand-dyed merino roving from Kae, so that I can spin some at lunch.

Happy Birthday to me

Well, to be honest, there have been some bright spots to the weekend. I have some really wonderful friends. Shay, a most special friend, (with help from BarbE) sent me a subscription to SpinOff, some DMC Linen Thread and fabulous clay face. Before I go on, let me tell you something about Shay...

Shay used to put on these incredible stitching retreats in Dallas before she went back to work full-time. So I got to know her in person as well as through Internet needlework groups and email. She made me the most beautiful photo box (again with help from Barb E) for my wedding. Then I went out to Martha Pullen's Market and to take classes from the Country Bumpkin folks last year and Shay offered for me stay with her. I was worried that she might just be making a polite gesture, so I talked to Barb E, who assured me the offer was genuine. Shay and her husband Jim made me feel so at home. I told my husband they made me feel like family, but what I meant was, they made me feel *better* than family. That is probably why I go to Dallas more often than I go to Atlanta.

I also got a lovely orchid from my dear friend Jenny in Jacksonville. A beautiful beaded lariat for scissors from Barbara, another top notch Texan. :-) Plus cards and fabric from several other wonderful folks. I have a place in the studio where I display all the wonderful stuff my dear friends have gifted me with over the years and every time I look at that stuff, I am amazed by how lucky I was to meet such special and caring folks over the years. I just wish they could all be my neighbors.

My stomach is in knots, I am about to get ready to go to the funeral home and I am dreading it. I just hope that nothing dramatic happens and if it does, I will be changing the names and writing a book. I am beginning to understand why so many classic Southern Gothic writers came from Mississippi.

Not a good weekend

My father-in-law died yesterday. My poor husband has lost both of his parents this year. He went into the hospital two days before my husbands birthday and died two days after. This has not been a time for celebration.

I had to go to my old house to find my low-heeled dress shoes, since I can't wear heels yet. While I was there I picked up three giant bags of Luster Sheen yarn & Aunt Lydia's Crochet Denim that were still in the closet in the spare bedroom. I have to go out to the post office to mail off the books I traded and I will need to make a stop by Hancock Fabrics to pick up some elastic, since I got out my summer silk suit and discovered the waist band had rotted.

I have a lot of housework to do, so...

Sitting with my feet up

Okay, I did something really stupid yesterday. I slipped on a mountain of laundry and did a very ungraceful split as I went down. Amazingly, I am not bruised, but my left ankle is swollen and I have it propped up on the coffee table. See what happens when I try to do housework? If there is a moral to this story, it is that housework is a pain!

Last night, I went up to the studio and finished the last block in a Beaded Round Robin. This block is for Julia Camilleri, whose work has graced the cover and the pages of Australian Embroidery and Cross Stitch on many occasions. The block was so full by time I got it, that I needed to study it for quite some time before I could figure what I could add that would enhance it. I finally decided to add some pearl seed bead flowers on the two outermost arm panels and a couple of Swarovski crystal flowers on the bottom outmost panels. Then I added two small dragonflies with faux pearls on each side to the floral beaded panels. The dragonfly has become the totem for our small group.




Wait, I hear the dryer beeping. hehehe

I was trying to get the dog to come back in and I spotted this guy on a branch. Since I was just talking about how the dragon fly was the totem for the Crazy Gathering group, I thought I should try to get a photo.

Adventures in Felting

Ever since I finished my French Market Bag, I have wanted to make a felted purse. Despite buying a couple of books, I had a specific shape in mind, so I decided to just do my own thing. I finished everything except for one the straps at least a month ago. Then because of the move and my crazy life, I sat it aside. Last night I picked it back up and finished it.

I was home sick again today and when I started to feel better, I decided to go to my old house to check on the bug bombs. Since nothing felts in the front loading washer I have at the new house, I took the purse, some soap and pillow protector to my old house and felted it. I am drying and blocking it now.

When I got back, I was in a felting mood, so I started making some felted mice. I'll edit this to include photos later tonight.

This is the inspiration for the purse shape & size.

Caveat Emptor

Okay, this was the dirtiest, smelliest three pounds of fleece I have ever touched. Oh, yeah, I haven't touched all that many fleeces. hehehe I was so grossed out by the smell, in part because of the raging sinus headache, that I finally resorted to using my pond insert (it is not a water feature any more because of mosquito-borne illness) to get it all washed at once.

The upside to living in Mississippi during the summer, and there has to be an upside, is that 90 degree days mean the water warms pretty quick. I used three lingerie bags, two mesh plastic baskets, salt, citric acid, nearly a whole small bottle of Dawn detergent & a lot of water. The whole nasty mess is soaking in my greenhouse and I plan to leave it there for at least a day. The temperature should not drop too much tonight and will warm back up to ninety again tomorrow, so I am not worried about the lanolin rehardening.

The ultimate irony here is that I really like processing my own fleece. I have used the stuff I have done myself and not really touched the roving I bought. :-) I just hope I don't get stuck with anything this yucky in the future, unless it is free. :-)

VM, tags and second cuts with some poop that I picked out. :-(

Allergies or cold?

I am home sick today. :-/ I have had a sinus headache since Saturday, but I just did not sleep with a darn last night and it all caught up with me this morning. I did manage to get out of bed and hand my husband his birthday gift...two Nautica shirts...but they weren't wrapped. LOL Oh, well. :-) Maybe I need to drag myself to the grocery so I can make him a cake.

The stinky Romanov fleece is still on my table and in my wash pot. I have to get it all washed up or the smell is going to be the end of me!

Last night I soaked some more Cheviot, getting it ready to dye. I did a really small batch of OzeCraft Persian Gold and Lavender and it looks good. I'll take a picture when it is dry.

I got several good books this past week. Color in Spinning, In Sheep's Clothing, Spin It, Spinner's Companion. Too bad my head hurts too bad to sit and read them. LOL

There is smelly and then there is SMELLY

My nine pound bucket of citric acid finally arrived. Don't be too shocked, because it is really not as much as you might think. The bucket it about the same size as a bucket of OxyClean detergent. I wanted a less smelly substitute for Vinegar for my dyeing and wool scouring. Kae tells me that "1 tbsp citric acid substitutes for 1 cup of vinegar" so I am set for a while. LOL

Speaking of smelly, I opened up the bag on three pounds of Romanov fleece to pick out the debris and...wow...I was practically knocked over by the smell. This is the first raw fleece I have gotten that was really smelly. It also had a lot of felted tips, something I have not had before, and trash. But the color is just lovely, so I am already soaking it. I really hope it works out. The picture can't possibly translate the stink...not even if you scratch and sniff the screen. LOL




Yes, those are CIGARETTE BUTTS!!!

This is probably the dirtiest first soak I have ever had. :-/

What Kind of Knitting Needle Are You?

Okay I stumbled onto this and thought it was cute. Apparently I am interchangeable. Is that good or bad? LOL And what are you?


You are interchangeable.
Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every
eventuality covered and every opportunity just
has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and
every day is a new beginning. You are good at
so many things, it's amazing, but you can
easily lose your place and forget to show up.
They have row counters for people like you!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

More Adventures in Dyeing

Okay, my husband reminded me that this is a hobby and that I was working too hard, but I have to go back to work tomorrow and there was so much I wanted to get done! I really wanted to try my drizzle dye method that has worked so well with silk ribbon.

I actually LOVED the final dyed effect, but it was too jumbled up to spin after some simple flicking. So I felt compelled to card it, which created a fairly consistent blended color, instead of the violet, purple, green splotches. Next time, I will keep my locks better aligned and I will skip the spin cycle and let it dry slowly and naturally.

This was a blend of Pansy, Forrest Green, Saffron & Shiraz OzeCraft Dyes that I bought from Lisa Risler of Lisa's Heaven. I bought this dye for painting Venice Lace, which is its main use aside from dyeing silk ribbon. But, I am on a wool kick, so I figured that I would try it.

I used a dropper to drizzle concentrated dye onto wetted Cheviot fleece. After allowing it to sit for about half an hour, I vigorously stirred the wool before placing it into a microwave for heat setting. I use a separate microwave for crafts, because I have one. There is some advantage to combining two households. ;-)



Wet Dyed Wool

Dry Wool Photographed with a Flash

Dry Wool Photographed in Natural Light, I tried to use a flick carder to keep the variegated effect, but the wool was too tangled.

Final Product After Carding

Washing Raw Fleece Again

Since I learned to spin, it seems like I spend a part of every weekend washing raw fleece. This is some Shetland fleece I purchased by the pound on eBay. I already washed a test batch, but I decided to lay it out and pick out some of the vegetable matter (VM) in preparation for the next step.





These are the second cuts, dust bunnies and VM that I picked out of this batch.

All in all, it was a real bargain. It was actually cleaner than the Cheviot fleece and smelled better than the Romanov! :-) It has a nice long staple, most of what I have is about 5" and I like the dark color. I did use a flicker to open the tips before washing, because it is too dark to use color to determine cleanliness.

Pretty in Pink

The Cheviot fleece that I scoured and dyed *Dawn Pink* is turning out better than I thought it would. I carded some, spun up a couple of ounces, then had to stop to card some more. After a couple of tries, the whole process started to make sense. I decided that I liked to roll the batts along the narrow side of the card, creating a plump little rolag that I will run through my diz and predraft before I try to spin it.

Foolishly, I thought I would get it all carded today, but the dyed fleece seems to be multiplying and my arms got VERY tired! Now it is time to take a break and let my arms rest.

Placemat Recreation Done!

Well, I decided to use Aunt Lydia's Crochet Denim for durability. Here are some photos of the original and my version side by side. :-) The nice part is that I actually got it done before knit night, so I will have something to give Kathy.

The medallions are made in rows of 4, and each one is connected to the previous motif and previous row as you crochet the last round. Finally, a simple edge finishes the project.

For a PDF of this working pattern, click here. Please let me know if you try this pattern and send pics of the final product!

Kathy's Vintage Placemat

Sorry about the lack of *set-up* for the photo! My coffee table is covered with spinning supplies and assorted junk and I just wanted to go ahead and get a picture posted. LOL But I do have the pattern worked out for all twelve motifs. I will work on the finishing.

Reverse Engineering Crochet

Someone from my Loose Knit Group came to knit night with a crochet placemat that she has had for ages and ages. She wanted to replicate them, because they were so special to her, but the person who made them has long since passed. She had made it in medallions and was asking about the best way to sew them together, but when I looked at the placemat, it was obvious that they were joined together as they were crocheted. So I offered to take it home and work through the best way to replicate it. I finally pulled it out this afternoon to look at it and started working on the first medallion. I'll post photos later tonight.

FaerieLady Fibers

Ooooo, ohhhh....merino roving! Kae posted this link on Spindlers today and I bought #4 and #7 immediately! Someone beat me to #2 and #5...grrr... They look good enough to eat. :-)

FaerieLady Fibers

I was able to spend a little time spinning at lunch and break today, using my new Quantum Spindle. I used all the wool I had carded, which wasn't really that much, so I need to get off my tail and get to carding! My co-worker was amazed at how thing I was spinning by comparison. :-)

A New Spindle!

I started spinning the purple cloud today at lunch on my CD Spindle. I did brush out the wool a little bit, but mostly I left it sort of wild. I am spinning much thinner than I was just a week ago. Although I had to stayconsistent with the other yarn, because I was aiming for bulky. LOL

When I got home there was a new spindle from Quantum Spindles on my doorstep. So of course I immediately got out the hand cards, made a rolag, and started to spin it. It is a BEAUTIFUL spindle, but it wobbles a little bit. Of course, that might change as I get more wool onto the spindle.

By the way, I used a brass washer as a homemade diz.

Here is a photo of the two yarns, dyed wool, my new spindle and my CD spindle side by side.

Experiments in Dying

I decided to try dyeing some of the Cheviot wool with some of the dyes I had on hand. First I brushed out the wool and tried to get out the remaining VM!

I used some microwave dyes from RibbonSmyth and some Dylon. For the Dylon, I used very hot water and followed the instructions for substituting vinegar for the salt and fixative, but I also allowed it to soak longer than suggested and kept it warm on the stove.

I was actually pleased with the results. The purple was actually a diluted mixture of red, blue and black. It came out a soft shade and I'll card it when it is dried. The Dawn Pink came out
much brighter than I expected. I might try it again and cut back the soaking time, since I have at least one more package. Keep in mind that these two batches are still wet (the dryer was in use).

Anyway, this was a lot of fun and I plan to do it again. Now I need to spin this.

Washing Fleece

As with all things, I went a little over board when I got the handspinning bug. :-)

I bought some fleece on eBay. I bought a pound of very dark Shetland, a pound of chocolate colored wool marked CVM (it was less than stellar but it came with some nice Romney locks as a bonus), and a whole Cheviot ewe's fleece (approximately 4.5 pounds).

I used a large canning pot I use for crafts and my sink. I used a combination of hot tap water and water out of my Instant Hot. I added Dawn liquid detergent to the water and stirred gently to avoid creating suds, then dropped in some of the fleece. I allowed them to soak until the water started to cool and then poured off the soapy water. I repeated this at least two times, then I switched to plain hot water soaks. I did add vinegar to the final rinse, but I might switch to citric acid crystals, because wool that smells like pickles just isn't that appealing!

I was amazed at how light the Cheviot wool was after washing. I never imagined that it would get so clean. I did read later that this particular breed is not prone to felting, so I decided to risk using my front loading washing machine to spin out the extra water before putting it on the sweater rack to dry.

I also bought some Clemes & Clemes hand cards and a flicker brush to help with the wool preparation. But then I decided that I wanted to dye some of it before I start carding or spinning. So it might take me a little while before I get around to actually spinning it.

Adventures in Handspinning

A couple of weekends ago, a friend took me with her to the local spinners & weavers guild meeting. I bought two tickets for door prizes and won some wool locks left over from a class. Then after the meeting, I stayed behind with my friend while she got some instruction on how to use the guild spinning wheel. The wonderful lady decided to teach both of us how to use a drop spindle. She sold me my very first spindle and batt and I created my first sad single.

Later, I made another top whorl spindle from two CDs on a single rubber grommet with a longer shaft than my first spindle. Being the geek that I am, I had to create pretty labels for my CDs. So now I can see photos of my favorite four-legged children when I spin. :-) The following photos are of the locks I won, as I started to spin it into a single on my new CD Spindle. I stuck it all into a muslin bag and took it work, so I could work on it a little every day at lunch.

After a while, I had a nice spindle full of wool and was ready to ply it. I decided to wind the single using my wool winder, then picked up the two ends and starting spinning it in the opposite direction of the way I made my singles. The result was a suprising balanced bulky yarn which I washed and put onto an umbrella swift to set the twist.

I was so excited to have my very first yarn and to be able to knit with it! I am hooked and I am so glad I joined Chimneyville Weavers & Spinners Guild!

Into the Abyss

I kept putting this off, but I guess it is time to begin my blog journey. :-)